


The In-Between

by Terminallydepraved



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Android!Gavin Reed, Bar, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Angst, Hand Jobs, M/M, Nines is a Maudlin Drunk, Rough Kissing, Stalking, hacker!nines, reverse!au - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:42:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24291517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terminallydepraved/pseuds/Terminallydepraved
Summary: Nines just wanted to get away from the shit-hole he calls home and have a drink, maybe pretend to be normal for a change.He really should've known better than to leave Gavin at home alone.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 25
Kudos: 200





	The In-Between

**Author's Note:**

> woot this won the poll for this month and since In This Moment dropped a new album it just felt fitting to really go with the flow and bring this old au outta the closet for another spin. check out the song The In-Between for some added flavor as you read and enjoy!

The smoky, greasy air of the bar coated Nines’s lips like a smear of lipstick from a sloppy kiss. He chased the taste with another shot of vodka, clacking down the glass with his hand up in the air before he’d even swallowed to signal another. The bartender, a middle-aged (and showing every year of that) woman, let out a knowing sigh and reached beneath the bar for the bottle she probably should’ve known better than to put away just yet. 

A measure of clear, astringent liquid poured its way into his shot glass. “Maybe take it a bit slower, honey,” she said with a bit of judgement coloring her voice. “I’d hate to cut you off before it’s even dark outside.”

Nines resisted the urge to flip her off. She controlled the booze; it wouldn’t be a good idea to piss her off. He picked up his shot glass and swirled it a little, watching the clear vodka glint purple and pink from the neon lights scattered over his head. He braced his elbow on the bar and propped his chin up with his hand. 

“‘S fine,” he slurred a little. “I’m not drunk.”

“You’re a right side closer to drunk than you are sober,” she told him, rapping her knuckles on the wooden bar before turning to take care of someone else’s drink. “Nurse it, got it?” She was gone before she could see Nines’s sluggish nod. 

He wasn’t drunk though. He knew what drunk felt like and this wasn’t it. Setting down his glass, Nines twisted around in his seat and put his back to the bar, the sound of the bartender’s rough voice acting like white noise in the swirling slush of his thoughts. It wasn’t busy yet and probably wouldn’t get busy for another few hours, but there were enough regulars and day drinkers scattered around to make Nines feel like he was in… not _good_ company, per se, but company all the same. 

His phone began to vibrate in his pocket. 

“Fuck,” he elicited, rolling the explicative over his loose tongue as if tasting the word all over. His hand pawed at the pocket, the clunky case slippery and hard to hold onto. Thumbing over the lockscreen and hitting the proper passcode took a few tries. Nines narrowed his eyes to read the tiny text. 

_GV500: Where the hell are you, dipshit?_

Nines scoffed, swirling back around to brace his elbows on the bar, the phone cradled in both hands. _Non of ur bsness,_ he rattled off, smiling as he hit send. Of course, he barely had time to enjoy his small victory before Gavin’s next text chimed. 

_GV500: You’re drunk, aren’t you._

Nines frowned. How could he tell? There were no security cameras in this dive of a bar; he’d checked all over before even deciding to sit down. Nines looked around the room, eyeing the dark slumps of the other patrons scattered around the tables. None of them looked like Gavin. He couldn’t be here. He didn’t know anything. 

Another buzz from the phone. 

_GV500: You fucking lush. Where are you? Get your ass home._

Nines snorted. _Fuck off,_ he typed, taking care to spell everything properly. _You aren’t my mom._ Instead of waiting for the next reply, Nines turned off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He reached for his half-forgotten shot and downed it in one, setting it back down with a sharp crack that drew the eye of the bartender. She wrinkled her nose at him but didn’t argue this time when he signalled her for another. She saved her judgment for a silent assault this time, but if she hoped it might work she’d be disappointed. 

What the hell was Gavin thinking, ordering him around like that? Fucking android. “Give him a big dick and he thinks he can order me around,” Nines muttered mutinously, debating downing the new shot now or saving it for a bit. He’d had… six? Seven? He’d lost count after the first few, and while he still was _not_ drunk, he could admit to feeling it a bit now. Just a bit. He curled his toes in his shoes and rolled his tongue against the back of his teeth, feeling the numb tingle leaden the muscle. Gross. 

At least he wouldn’t have any issues sleeping tonight. Alcohol always put him right out once he hit that threshold. Actually… Nines took another look around the bar. It would be easier on his wallet if he just went with his usual way of wearing himself out. He eyed the clusters of tables, taking in the people sitting at them. In a dive this shitty almost no one was sitting with friends. Hmm. Too old. Too ugly. Ugh. Was there no one here that hit his tastes? 

The weight of his silent phone in his pocket was suddenly overwhelming. If he told Gavin where he was he was sure the android would appear within minutes. He wouldn’t need to look for a human when he had his perfect man already at home— But no. _No._ That was the whole point of coming out. He’d been too cooped up with Gavin lately, too easily accessible. The android was trying to monopolize him and running back to him at the first failed attempt to find someone better would just make it all worse. 

Nines screwed up his face and pounded back his shot. The vodka barely burned after so many before it. No. He’d figure something out here or he’d just drink himself stupid and sleep it off that way. The DPD did give him a stipend, microscopic as it was. He didn’t eat that much, so he might as well blow it all on booze.

The bell over the door of the bar chimed behind him. A cool breeze rolled in, tickling the back of his neck. Nines sighed and didn’t bother looking at whoever it was that had just arrived. Knowing his luck they’d be ass-ugly and just another disappointment to add to his evening count. He met eyes with the bartender and gestured at his empty cup. She sighed and looked at him with more judgement than he felt he deserved. Didn’t she want his money? He wouldn’t barf on her floor, so she should just be grateful he was here at all. There were other bars within his tracker anklet radius. She wasn’t so special…

A wave of sadness rolled over Nines before he’d even finished the thought. Christ, he’d hit that point, hadn’t he? The mopey, maudlin, woe-is-me stage of alcohol consumption. His ankle brushed against a rung on the bottom of his bar stool, the thick tracker anklet hidden beneath his pants leg but anything but absent. Sometimes he could go hours without remembering it was there, but like this, pressed up against the wood, firm and unyielding… 

Nines covered his face with both hands as the bartender poured him his next shot. The second she stopped was the second he grabbed the glass and downed it without a thought, slamming it down hard as he grunted, “Another,” through the dulling sting. 

“You’ve had enough, hun,” she said gently, maybe sensing where his thoughts had drifted. Bartenders were perceptive, right? Wasn’t that what everyone always said? She’d probably dealt with hundreds, thousands, of drunken losers like Nines in her time. “I’ll get you some water, okay? Drink it slow and then head home. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

He wouldn’t because nothing about his situation would magically find itself fixed by then, but he nodded anyway and didn’t watch her drift off to the rack that held clean glasses. He gave in and let his head fall onto his folded arms. Everything was overly warm and just a little topsy-turvy. Unpleasant. The walk home would probably sober him up a little. It was cooler outside tonight, almost too chilly to be walking around, but he wasn’t spoiled for choice these days when it came to outings. Whatever. He didn’t care anymore. 

Something jostled his elbow as someone settled into the chair at his side. Nines grunted his displeasure. A low voice murmured, “Touchy, touchy,” but it was practically lost in the rising sound of the bar finally coming to life. What wasn’t missed though, was the sensation of a hand falling on Nines’s lower back or the sound of that same voice murmuring, “So, you come here often?” in his ear. 

What he’d missed in the first exchange rushed back to him in the second. Nines’s eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat. That voice… that hand… He woodenly turned his head and looked at a very familiar face in the seat beside him. 

“Ga—”

“I bet you come here often,” the android interjected, the corners of his eyes crinkled as he grinned with something mean behind it. His hand was a heavy brand on Nines’s back, fingertips just slipping beneath the bottom hem of his shirt to tease his skin. It would be flirtatious if it had been anyone else. “Pretty thing like you, I bet you’re the bell of the ball in a dive like this. Just spoiled for choice.”

Nines’s mind skidded and whirled like a computer low on RAM. He blinked stupidly and tried to make sense of what he was seeing, of how Gavin could have found him here. Before he managed to come close to understanding anything though, Gavin was rising out of his seat. His hand shifted from Nines’s lower back to his shoulder, fingertips skimming along his sensitive neck as the android moved to stand behind him. 

The worst sense of deja vu hit him somewhere between the eyes. How many times had he been in this exact position with a prospective bar-fuck? The teasing touches, the overt—and false—flattery. Nines faced forward and looked down at his empty drink. How? Just… how? 

“You’re a quiet one, huh? Pretty thing like you probably never has to work hard to get some attention. The men just throw themselves at you, I bet. Can’t say I can judge them for it; I’m here, aren’t I?” Hot breath bathed the back of his neck. Nines shivered, stiffening when a pair of lips brushed the shell of his ear. “What’s wrong, babe? You not lookin’ to score tonight?”

“G—” 

Again, the name didn’t have a chance to form. Nines let out a gust of air as a firm, broad chest plastered itself along his back, forcing him forward until he was effectively pinned between the bar and whoever (Gavin, it was Gavin, but he also wasn’t? He was planning something, doing something, and Nines couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t begin to understand) was behind him. “Oh, no, don’t ruin the game,” came the silken reply, the threat of teeth against Nines’s ear too real to ignore. “You wanted a stranger, right? That’s why you came here. That’s what I’ll be if that’s what you want. You think I can’t give you everything you need? I’ll prove you wrong.”

Nines wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t drunk before, and he sure as shit wasn’t drunk now. His thoughts tripped over themselves in their haste to understand, to rationalize, but every solution he came to came out with the same result: his horny, pushy android was dead set on making him regret thinking he could have a life (sex-life or otherwise) outside of him. 

He wilted over the bar, eyes tightly shut. Gavin was the worst. The absolute _worst._

“What makes you think I’m interested?” he gasped, trembling a little beneath Gavin’s weight. The bartender kept casting concerned looks their way, and for the life of him Nines wasn’t sure how to tell her that this was fine, that it was normal. He tried for a smile but wasn’t sure it hit the mark. She didn’t break out the barside shotgun though, so he figured he’d bought himself at least a few more minutes unbothered. 

Well, unbothered by the barkeep. Gavin, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop nuzzling his hair. His hands slipped down to circle Nines’s waist, his grip sure, confident, and everything Nines wanted in that moment. “You’ve never been good at lying to me,” came the quiet reply. Despite his tone before, Gavin was downright gentle now, brushing a kiss to the back of his head that sent Nines blushing. “Drinking alone like this, wearing this slutty top…” Nines’s embarrassment deepened as Gavin drew his hands along the front of his tight shirt. “You clearly came here looking for something. But guess what, babe?”

“What?” Nines croaked.

Gavin wrapped his arms around him firmly and dragged him out of his seat. “You’ve found it,” the android finished, pulling him away from the bar and into his arms. Nines stood shakily, leaning on the android for support as he adjusted to the change in altitude. His head spun but Gavin didn’t let it slow him down one bit. He brought Nines’s hands up to his shoulders, letting him brace himself as the android took him in. “Christ, you fucking lush. I can smell the vodka on you from here.”

Nines ignored the fretting in favor of taking in Gavin instead. The android had actually deigned to put on more than just sweat pants and a tank top in honor of this little jaunt beyond their apartment walls. That didn’t mean he had dressed up though; Nines recognized his discarded v-neck from the other day, the one he had left on the floor of his bedroom after pulling two all-nighters in a row decrypting the DPD’s latest influx of data from one of their busts. The jeans Gavin wore with them were his own though, a pair that Nines had got for him from a thrift store but had never seen the android wear. He’d just guessed on the size back then. Apparently he’d done well with them. They looked good. 

All of Gavin looked good. 

Even as the thought came over him, Nines found himself shaking his head to rid himself of it. He staggered to the side though as vertigo swept in, the movement too much after so much to drink, and Gavin swore as he gripped him by the waist to keep him upright. Nines tried to smack his hands away. “I’m fine,” he mumbled, feeling his face grow hot. “Go away.”

“If you think I’m going anywhere without you after the hoops you made me jump through just to find you, you’re a hell of a lot stupider than you look.”

Hoops? Christ, what hoops? Nines’s thoughts were sluggish and tripping over themselves as they tried to make sense of the current situation. He watched Gavin reach for his wrist, and he didn’t fight the pull forward until he found himself halfway across the bar and nearly at the door. “Hey, wait,” he chided, yanking at his arm. “I didn’t pay for my drinks.”

“I already took care of it, dipshit,” Gavin said, not even looking over his shoulder at him as he continued to pull him towards the door. His grip was tight but not bruising, but even knowing that Nines could tell there would be no point in trying to break it. The only way he was likely to get free was if he caused a scene and involved the bar patrons, and Gavin knew him too well to think that he’d go that far just to make a point. 

God, Nines really hated this fucking android sometimes.

“You’re going to hurt my feelings, acting like that,” Gavin muttered as he pushed through the swinging door and deposited them onto the street. 

“You deserve it,” Nines sniped, tugging at his wrist again. “Let go. I wasn’t done drinking.”

“Fat fucking chance.” The grip tightened and then they were off once more, this time hanging a sharp left. Nines blinked as the light shifted from washed out streetlights to murky, off-orange alley glow. The scent of old beer and stale piss stung his nose. “Do you have any fucking idea how annoying you are? We have booze at home. You don’t need to go out, asshole.”

Why the hell were they in some shitty alley? Nines fought hard to keep one eye on Gavin and the other on the ground in case he stepped on a rusty nail and gave himself tetanus or worse. “None of your fucking business,” he snapped, yanking hard now on his wrist, hard enough to bruise himself even if Gavin wasn’t trying to hurt him. As he expected, Gavin let go of him. Nines balled up his hands into fists and glowered at Gavin. “I can have a life outside of you.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes. “You call that having a life?” he wondered, voice low, eyes shrewd. He slowly approached Nines, and for every step he took Nines took one back. Of course, he only managed to do that a few times before his back met a greasy brick wall. “Getting piss drunk on a bar stool in some disgusting dive? That’s having a life?”

“It’s what I have,” Nines whispered, averting his eyes when the extent of his own situation hit him beneath the belt. There weren’t many places in his radius to go. The DPD had limited him a lot in that sense, and it wasn’t as if he had friends to visit or family that would come to see him. The only human interaction he had anymore was his daily check-ins down at the precinct; of course, those people barely wanted to talk to him, let alone have conversations. 

“And you thought that finding some random guy to fuck you would make it better?” Gavin scoffed, bracketing his hands on either side of Nines’s head, effectively pinning him to the wall. “They don’t give a fuck about you, Nines.”

“Oh, and you do?” he snapped waspishly, putting his hands on Gavin’s chest to try and push him away. The android didn’t budge, but he hadn’t really expected him to. He hadn’t tried very hard to begin with, and Gavin knew it. 

“For a genius, you are so fucking stupid,” Gavin sighed before closing the distance between them. 

The kiss was rough and clumsy. Nines hadn’t been prepared for it even though knowing Gavin, he really, really should’ve been. Their teeth clacked together and Nines wasn’t sure if he should kiss back or turn away. His head was a mess and everything was moving so quickly to his slow, lagging senses. Gavin’s hands settled on his hips, kneading and fondling. It felt… good, despite everything. He’d always chased this when he went out, this feeling, this easy sort of intimacy he always felt when he was with Gavin. No stranger had come close to it before. He really wasn’t sure why he thought someone ever might. 

“I’m going to rip out your batteries one of these days,” Nines said when they parted just enough to let him breathe. He was sagging against the wall, half-hard in his jeans and still pawing at Gavin’s chest through his shirt. “You suck.”

“No, you fucking suck,” Gavin growled, taking him by the shoulder to turn him until he faced the wall. “I should make _you_ suck _me_ after all the shit you pulled tonight. But I won’t, and you wanna know why? Because I’m fucking nice, and for some strange fucking reason, I actually like your high-maintenance ass.” 

Nines’s eyes widened as Gavin opened his belt and began to shove his hands inside his pants. That calloused hand wrapped around his cock and gave a pump that nearly sent him to his knees. Nines didn’t know if he should brace himself or smack Gavin’s hands away. He settled for curling them against the wall and shaking, moaning something that sounded a little bit like the android’s name. 

What was he doing? Why was he doing it here? There were probably easy, self-explanatory answers to all of his questions, but for the life of him he couldn’t gather up the brain power necessary to reason them out. It was hard. It was fast. Nines couldn’t equate it to anything he’d ever had before because he scarcely had a moment to breathe, let alone think about it. He dug his nails into the brick and choked on his own spit. It was almost… angry how Gavin touched him. Vicious and intent. 

“Pl… Please,” he wheezed, closing his eyes as he pressed his cheek to the filthy wall. His thighs trembled and the thick arm wrapped around his middle was the only thing keeping him on his feet. He could feel Gavin grinding against his ass, hard, impatient. He wouldn’t go that far out here though, not where anyone could see. He liked to play the game that he liked having an audience but Nines knew Gavin was too possessive to ever let someone else see him like this. 

“You like that?” the android growled, giving his cock a vicious twist. Nines’s eyes rolled back in his head. “You like my hands? You think anyone else could touch you like this? Make you feel this good?”

And that. That right there… Gavin would never let him look for anyone else. Nines had made his own perfect lover, and Gavin wasn’t about to let him forget it. Not even for a minute. A second. A single breath. 

Nines closed his eyes and twisted his head around, seeking out the android’s cheek. He found it, pressing sloppy, half-there kisses to his stubble, his jaw. “Please,” he begged, leaning into Gavin’s touch. “Please let me come. Please.”

Gavin was cruel tonight, but not cruel enough to deny him a kiss or two. He met his lips and pressed deeper, pumping Nines smoothly as his tongue ran over his back molars. Nines choked and sputtered, squeezing his eyes shut as his orgasm tore over him in a wave. He shook and dug his nails into the brick, knees weak and legs like jelly. The arm around his middle tightened, keeping him upright. The kiss dragged on and on and on.

Nines didn’t fight it. He kept his eyes closed and gave back as much as he could, but they both knew that his focus was shot. His limbs were warm and lazy, and he hung like a kitten from Gavin’s arms. The kiss slowed incrementally until it broke entirely, Nines breathing sharply against Gavin’s mouth. He cracked open his eyes and looked at the android. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. For all of Gavin’s annoying habits and horrible ideas, Nines couldn’t help but like him. 

Who else would care this much about him? Who else would hunt him down just to keep him from making a drunken mistake? 

A tiny voice in the back of his head told him that Gavin had just directed that drunken mistake towards himself instead, but it was easy to ignore. In the end it didn’t really matter. This was better. This would always be better than some nameless guy fucking him and leaving him. 

Because Gavin would never leave him. He’d already proven he’d barely tolerate going an evening without him, after all. 

“Hey.” Nines felt Gavin nudge him, peeling him away from the wall. “You alive?”

“Mmm.” Words felt difficult. Nines closed his eyes and let Gavin navigate him around so he could rest his head on the android’s shoulder. “Tired.” 

“Pfft. Tired. I could taste your blood alcohol content, genius. You’re a fucking lush, you know that right?”

There was no point in denying it. Nines just looped his arms around Gavin’s neck and sagged against his front. Gavin grumbled quietly as he sandwiched a hand between them to put Nines’s cock away and zip him back up. There would probably be come all over his pants by the time they got back, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Wrestling with the ancient basement laundry machine would suck. It always did. It ate more quarters than it used and fuck, did he even have quarters left? He’d need to…

Nines opened his eyes when Gavin suddenly shrank a few inches. He grunted, felt a pair of hands on the backs of his thighs, and then suddenly he was aloft, Gavin rising back to his full height and cradling him against his chest as easily as if he were hefting a box instead of a six foot three man. “Will you shut up?” the android muttered, turning them and starting for the mouth of the alley. “If I have to hear you ramble on about quarters the whole way home I’m gonna be pissed.”

Heat rose to Nines’s cheeks. “You heard that?”

“Yeah, babe, you’re a chatty little fucker when you drink. You’ve been giving me a running commentary the whole night, or had you not noticed? What am I saying, of course you didn’t. I’ll do the fucking laundry while you sleep, okay? Don’t worry about it.” He bounced Nines a little just to hear him squeak. Gavin’s laugh was rich, deep, endlessly humored as he emerged onto the street and set off in the direction of their shitty little apartment building. “Just relax a bit. We’re going home and straight to bed.”

The blush just grew worse at that. Stupid Gavin. Nines hated it when he was nice. It made it harder to hate him. A snort near his ear told him he had probably just said that aloud too. Fuck. Whatever. Nines closed his eyes and held Gavin tight. Home sounded good to him either way. 

“I’ll punish you properly once I get you in that bed,” Gavin finished, bouncing Nines like the jerk he was just to get him to hold on even tighter. “Gonna make sure you know that I’m the only dick you need. You good with that?” Nines opened his mouth. “Thought so,” Gavin finished, not giving him the chance to disagree. 

Nines frowned as Gavin turned his head and planted a whiskery kiss to his cheek. It was a sweet kiss. His attitude soured it a little. “You’re the worst,” he mumbled, too tired to fight the inevitable _or_ the hands shifting to cup his ass. 

“Love you too, sweetcheeks,” Gavin laughed, and if Nines colored at that, it was fine. 

Gavin couldn’t see his face anyway. 

**Author's Note:**

> woot! hope yall enjoyed this! if you did please consider leaving a comment and letting me know, and if youre into my work and wanna see what i get up to when im not writing android porn, definitely check out my website at tdcloudofficial.com for all my original content as well! until next time!


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